COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Brewed at Samuel Smith’s small, traditional British brewery with well water (the original well sunk in 1758 is still in use), best barley malt, roasted barley, yeast and aromatic hops. Nut Brown Ale is relatively dry with a rich amber-brown colour and nutty flavour derived exclusively from small amounts of dark malt. Brown ales are a specialty of northern England. Fermented in ’stone Yorkshire squares’.

UPDATED: JUL 11, 2015 Poured from 12 oz bottle into pint glass
Appearance: pours a thick, sudsy off white head that slowly recedes with moderate lacing. Color is a mostly clear light brown with plenty of streaming carbonation.
Aroma: rich roasted malts, caramel, nuts, earthy hops.
Mouthfeel: medium bodied, frothy, with a wet finish.
Flavor: terrific combination of roasted malts, sweet caramel, ripe fruit, and a definite nuttiness. There are some tangy and earthy hops in the backbone.
Overall: a world class beer for sure. Perhaps the standard by which all other English style Nut Brown’s should be judged.

Maaaan, this is my favorite beer of all time. I’m telling you, I don’t understand why other beers don’t want to be this good. Though I’ve had better and worse batches of this (maybe due to the clear glass bottle?), the first time I ever had it was just unbeatable. Look at that head! It’s what I consider perfect. It almost looks like food. Such texture. And the taste is just perfect. There’s a slight sweetness but not so much that you’d call it sweet, and I guess that’s part of the perfect malt-ness of it, which just gives it a perfect depth. Mix that with the color and the perfect mouthfeel and we have ourselves a winner. I would drink his brother John’s ale in my local in Scotland and was pissed when I actually went to York and couldn’t find Samuel’s on tap anywhere. Yarrrgh! I mean, it’s from there! or at least Yorkshire anyway. You’d think they’d have it on tap, but no, just John (this was ’96-97). So I’ve only ever had it in the bottle. But it’s still the best. I don’t even like brown ale otherwise. Newcastle, for example, tastes just about like brown water to me. I don’t understand why there’s no flavor in most of the browns I’ve tried. They really have no right to that color if they aren’t going to deliver flavor. It’s bait and switch I tell you. This one is nothing like other watery brown ales I’ve tried. Love me some SSNBA.

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